


where we're supposed to be

by Springsteen



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Christmas, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 09:05:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13073646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Springsteen/pseuds/Springsteen
Summary: Tyler's life is pretty simple - he makes coffee and he plays hockey. Maybe it's not what he expected, but he's happy enough, especially when he can flirt with the hot guy who keeps coming in for coffee.





	where we're supposed to be

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was supposed to be like, 2k max, and it just really got away from me and now it's over 7k of cavity-inducing fluff. Title is from The Maine's "Ho Ho Hopefully."

It wasn’t like Tyler grew up wanting to be a barista. When he was younger, Tyler wanted to play in the NHL, but a couple of early injuries, his parents’ divorce, and life in general had more or less squashed those dreams, and he’s okay with that. Now Tyler works at a coffee shop and assistant coaches a mite hockey team. He plays in a rec league, too, so his life is still full of hockey even if he didn’t make it to the pros. It’s not like Tyler is planning on being a barista forever, either - he might actually go back to college for sports medicine or something, though that’s, like, a _lot_ of school. For now, he’s pretty happy where he is.

That being said, Tyler really fucking hates working around the holidays because it’s so damn busy all the time. He feels like he’s been pouring coffee constantly since his shift started two hours ago, and he’s heard enough Michael Bublé Christmas music to last a lifetime. December has barely even started. Shoresy is working the register and wearing a santa hat, and he’s making Tyler help him decorate right after close today. Not that Tyler really wants to complain - he makes pretty badass paper snowflakes, and the world deserves to see them. 

“Hi, welcome to Estrella’s Coffee,” Devin says. Tyler tunes him out, waiting for him to call out the order. “Drip coffee,” Devin says, slamming an empty cup down in front of Tyler even though that’s something Devin could easily handle himself. He looks up to glare at Devin and catches sight of the hottest guy he has ever seen. Like, _ever_. He’s huge, tall and broad, dark hair buzzed short on the sides and swept back from his face. Tyler can just see the edges of a tattoo peeking out from the sleeve of the guy’s jacket. He’s maybe a little bit in love.

Tyler wishes the guy had ordered something more complicated than a drip, something that would give him the chance to talk to the guy a little over the espresso machine. Instead, he fills the coffee cup and holds it up to read the name on the side. “Medium drip coffee for Jonnie,” he says, grinning up at the guy. 

He frowns. “Uh, thanks,” he says, taking a half step away from the coffee bar. He turns back and says, “It’s, um, Jamie.”

“You - what?” Tyler asks.

“My name, it’s Jamie,” he said. “Not Jonnie.” 

Tyler squints at the name Devin had scribbled on the cup, even though Jamie’s standing a few feet away, making it even harder to read. “Sorry about that, Jamie,” he says. “Shoresy’s writing is really terrible, we’re lucky he doesn’t write the orders, too.”

“No problem,” Jamie says, smiling politely at him. He pushes his hands through his hair and Tyler’s knees feel weak. 

“Anything else I can get you?” Tyler asks. “Cream? Sugar?” He resists the urge to raise his eyebrows suggestively. He’s gotta keep it professional.

“No, thanks,” Jamie says. He glances over his shoulder at the little table with the half and half, sugar, and extra lids. “I can get it.”

“Large nonfat latte, extra foam,” Devin calls, stopping Tyler from staring dreamily at Jamie. In between espresso shots, he does get a chance to check out Jamie as he’s leaving, which really is quite a sight. Tyler was right - Jamie is definitely the hottest person to ever walk into this coffee shop, himself included, and Tyler is definitely a tiny bit in love. He really hopes he’ll see him again.

//

Tyler was starting to think Jamie must have been a tourist, because he hasn’t seen him again all week. He’s a little bummed, but it’s hard to be sad in the coffee shop anymore since he and Devin had strung up tinsel and lights all over the place, and besides that he’s usually so busy he doesn’t really have time to be sad. The windows are full of paper snowflakes and spray-on snow. Devin had wanted to do something with window chalk, but Tyler had vetoed that since, beyond latte art, neither of them could draw at all, and Zoe had refused to help them decorate.

“Yeah, no,” she’d said. “You guys volunteered this year. I have things to do when my shift is over, and decorating this place isn’t one of them.”

“Come on, Zo,” Tyler pleaded. “Not even for the windows?”

“Then where would all your snowflakes go?” she asked sweetly, hip-checking him out of the way so she could reach the whipped cream. Tyler glared at her because yeah, she had a point. So now the coffee shop glitters like a billion ornaments, but Tyler hasn’t seen Jamie all week, and he’s gotten really, seriously sick of the music playing in the shop all the time. 

“Shoresy, do we _have_ to listen to this album again?” he asks as Michael Bublé’s Christmas album starts up again. He’s about to unlock the front door and flip the “open” sign, but he turns to give Devin his best puppy dog look.

“It’s the only one I could find in the back, and Hitch says he doesn’t know where the other ones are,” Devin says. “Also he doesn’t trust you to play Pandora from your phone since that one time last summer,” he adds quickly.

“That was one time!” Tyler says angrily. He still has no idea how “Rack City” ended up in his chill coffee station. Luckily it had happened right before they’d opened, or Hitch might have fired him for insulting the customers or whatever. So now they were stuck with Michael Bublé all month long. It would probably be worth it to just go buy a couple more Christmas CDs, or maybe convince Hitch to join the 21st century and actually get the shop a new stereo that doesn’t have a CD player at all.

“Isn’t…” Devin says slowly.

“Yeah, I know,” Tyler says, unlocking the door for real. “I was just really hoping we could escape Christmas music hell this morning. Here comes the rush.” There’s not actually a line of people at the door waiting for them to open, considering how early they open on the weekdays, but they get busy pretty quick as people come in on their way to work.

Jamie comes in right at the start of their morning rush, drip coffee after pour over after nonfat extra hot extra shot macchiato. Tyler’s just handed Crazy Gary his red eye, shaking his head as Gary sets up camp at the corner table with his crossword, armed with a pen and an almost illegal amount of caffeine. Tyler looks up, and Jamie’s smiling at him, looking sinfully good in a business suit.

“Hi,” Tyler says brightly, sounding more awake than he feels and cutting off Devin. “What can I get you?” Behind him, Devin pushes him into the counter so he can start a pour over for their next customer.

“Just a coffee,” Jamie says. “Large, please.”

“Sure thing,” Tyler says, grabbing a cup and filling it as soon as Devin steps back to the register. “You know, I make a mean soy latte, if you ever wanna order something exciting. And we’ve got peppermint mochas if you’re feeling festive. No eggnog, though.”

“That sounds gross,” Jamie says slowly. “I mean - the eggnog, not the latte, I… Maybe another time. When I’m not almost late for work.”

“Yeah?” Tyler says hopefully. Jamie’s smiling at him, his fingers just brushing Tyler’s as he hands over the coffee. Tyler’s fingertips burn.

“Two medium cappuccinos, one with two pumps sugar, and three americanos.” Devin pushes a whole row of cups at Tyler and Tyler has to pull his hand back to save them from tumbling to the floor. Jamie checks his watch, swears, and dashes out the door. Tyler goes through the rest of his shift with a little smile, a warmth and lightness in his chest that he can’t shake.

//

Jamie doesn’t come in during the morning rush the next day or the day after that, but he does come in that afternoon. He’s not wearing a suit jacket and he looks even better, a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a nice tie. Tyler wants to climb over the counter and rip his clothes off. Instead, he leans on the counter in a way he knows makes his arms look amazing.

“What’ll it be today?” he asks. 

Devin turns to him. “Wow, Tyler, I didn’t know you were working register today,” he says. Tyler ignores him.

“I’ll go for an americano,” he says. Tyler’s a little disappointed. He’s been practicing his latte art and he can almost sort of make a reindeer, but you can’t do foam art with just espresso and hot water. 

“Coming right up,” Tyler says, setting up the espresso shots. “So, do you work around here?”

Jamie looks around, like he thinks he might be talking to somebody else, but for once there’s no one else waiting for coffee. “Yeah,” he says. “I work in one of the big offices around the corner. I’m, uh, a CPA.” He fiddles with the watch on his wrist. Tyler can feel him watching as he pours the shots into a coffee cup and adds hot water. “What about you?” Jamie asks. Tyler looks up, wondering if he’s missed something Jamie said. Judging from the blush that’s slowly, adorably creeping across his face and the way he’s staring at the edge of the counter, he hasn’t.

Tyler smiles and says, “Well, most of the time I work here, but I’m also assistant coach for a mite hockey team and I play in a rec league.” At that, Jamie looks up again. He still looks really embarrassed, but he’s smiling a little, too. “Not that I get paid to play beer league hockey, but still, it’s great.”

“I really miss hockey,” Jamie says. “I moved down here from BC, it’s just not the same.”

Tyler didn’t think it was possible to fall more in love with someone you barely know every time they speak, but it’s happening. “Yeah? I thought I heard a little accent. I’m from Toronto.” He realizes he’s still holding Jamie’s coffee and quickly puts a lid on it and passes it to him. 

“Thanks,” he says. “My whole family’s still in Victoria. My brother keeps talking about moving, but.” He shrugs. “I’m Jamie, by the way.” He holds his hand out. It feels weirdly formal, considering the day they met and the number of times Tyler’s seen his name written on coffee cups since then. He’s wearing his name badge like always, but introduces himself anyway.

“I’m Tyler,” he says. Jamie’s hand is warm when he takes it. “Nice to meet you. And hey, hockey’s hockey, man. You should come to one of our games, get back into it.”

“Really?” Jamie asks, but he’s already smiling. “That’d be cool.” The bells on the door jingle as a big group of people come in, pushing strollers and carrying shopping bags. “Thanks for the coffee, Tyler,” Jamie says as he leaves. Tyler watches him longer than he should before turning his focus on half a dozen peppermint mochas.

//

As they get closer to Christmas, the shop gets busier and busier. Between opening shifts, afternoon naps, and evenings at the rink either coaching or practicing, Tyler finds himself looking forward to his morning shifts more and more. Jamie’s been coming in most days before work. He can’t say they’re friends, exactly, but his days always improve when he starts them off flirting with a hot not-quite-stranger.

One morning, Shoresy walks in carrying a big bag and says, “I think we should wear these.”

“If those are Santa beards, that’s unsanitary and I’m not doing it,” Zoe says, not looking up from where she’s filling the half and half jugs for the counter.

“It’s not beards,” Shoresy says. Tyler hooks his finger in the edge of the bag and looks inside. He pulls out a headband with reindeer antlers on it that jingles when he shakes it. 

“Shoresy, you’re amazing,” he says, immediately putting it on his head. Shoresy beams, putting an elf hat on himself.

“You guys are insane,” Zoe says. “I’m still not doing it.”

“I think you mean festive,” Shoresy says. He holds the bag out at her, shaking it so it jingles. She rolls her eyes and takes out a necklace made of plastic lights, dropping it over her head.

“Happy now?” she asks. 

“Pre-shift selfie!” Shoresy says, pulling both of them in and snapping a picture. 

“It is not even six in the morning,” Zoe grumbles. Tyler kind of wants to frame the picture and hang it in the back, an employee of the month kind of thing, but he settles for making Devin post it on Instagram instead.

Jamie walks in during the morning rush again and smiles when he sees Tyler. He’s working register this morning, Zoe and Shoresy filling orders, and he sneaks smiles at Jamie the whole time he’s waiting in line. “Morning,” Jamie says once he’s standing in front of him, smiling dopily. “Nice antlers.”

“Thanks,” Tyler says, tilting his head so the bells jingle. “Heading in to work?” 

“Yeah,” Jamie says. “It’s not too bad right now, but it’ll be crazy in a couple months once tax season starts up.” Tyler cringes. He can’t think of anything worse than willingly dealing with other people’s taxes for literal months, but he also can’t judge other people’s job choices. Jamie sees the face Tyler makes and says, “Yeah, it’s kind of boring and terrible, but the money’s pretty good. Sometimes it’s fun.”

“Well as long as it’s not always boring,” Tyler teases. “What can I get you?”

“Large coffee, please,” he says. Tyler grabs a cup and writes Jamie’s name on it, draws a smiley face on it, and debates writing his number on it. He doesn’t - he’s definitely been flirting, but Jamie has just been nice. He’s hot and sweet and pretty much perfect, but Tyler doesn’t want to read the play wrong and creep him out so he stops coming to Estrella’s.

He fills the coffee cup and turns back to Jamie. “Have a nice day,” he says. 

“Thanks,” Jamie says. Their fingers brush again as Jamie takes his coffee and this time, Tyler doesn’t pull his hand away - at least not until the woman behind Jamie clears her throat, typing rapidly on her phone. Jamie startles and steps aside. Reluctantly, Tyler turns to the woman and smiles his best customer service smile.

“Good morning, welcome to Estrella’s, how can I help you?”

“Have a nice day, Ty,” Jamie says, just loud enough for him to hear. Tyler’s so distracted he almost drops the customer’s change all over the counter. For the rest of his shift he feels like he’s floating. He goes home when his shift ends and manages to get a couple hours’ sleep before he meets Spezza at the rink to set up for practice. 

The kids have been playing really well this season. It’s mite hockey, at least half the kids are still learning to skate properly, but still. He knows what really matters is that the kids have fun and love the game more than anything, but it feels good to win. He’s exhausted after an hour of running skating and stickhandling drills (and a lot of cheerleading, pep talks, and general encouragement), but he has just enough time to grab dinner before he has to be back at the rink for his rec team’s practice.

As he eats, Tyler thinks about how Jamie must feel, leaving behind hockey and his hometown for a job. He could work in a coffee shop anywhere, but he loves Dallas, loves his friends and his teams. He wonders if Jamie is lonely here, wonders how long he’s even lived in town, and then he realizes what he’s doing. He’s worked at the coffee shop for a while now and he’s never obsessed over a regular customer like this. It’s kind of creepy. He checks his phone and realizes there’s no way he’s gonna make it back to the rink on time. Ritchie’s gonna give him so much hell for this.

“What the fuck, Segs?” Ritchie yells when he finally gets on the ice. “We only have an hour of ice time and we play the Jagr Bombs on Saturday.”

“Yeah, and we’re gonna destroy them,” he says, easily stealing a puck from him. “Come on, guys, are you gonna stand around chirping me or are we gonna play some hockey?” He juggles the puck on his stick until Ritchie tries to steal it from him again and he skates off. It might not be the NHL, but he can’t imagine living without hockey. He remembers Jamie’s face when he’d said he missed hockey and wonders how badly he wants it back, if he’d be willing to play with Tyler and the rest of the guys. He’s never seen Jamie play, doesn’t even know if he really cane, but Tyler can’t keep the smile off his face at the thought.

//

As Christmas gets closer, Tyler barely even has time to sleep. When he dreams, it’s about hockey and Jamie, together and separately, and Tyler feels like he’s going crazy. At work, he draws hockey plays on empty cups until Zoe realizes what he’s doing and takes the marker away from him. He stacks all the cups before she can get rid of them, hoping he can remember later which ones were for the kids and which ones were for him.

“When’s your next game?” Zoe asks, surprisingly interested. They all talk during lulls and breaks, so Tyler knows Devin is going to school for physical therapy and that Zoe also works at some boutique and is saving up to move up north, maybe Boston, maybe Canada. He knows he’s talked about hockey - it’s his passion for sure. The three of them have even gone to a couple Stars games together, but neither of them have ever gone to any of Tyler’s games.

“Saturday night,” he says. “Why?”

She shrugs. “Well, I was gonna come and see if you were any good, but I’m closing that night.”

He grins at her. “Maybe after Christmas, eh? I didn’t know you were really into hockey.”

Zoe rolls her eyes. “There’s so much you don’t know about me, Segs,” she says. He’s about to argue that, but she keeps talking. “You, on the other hand, are an open book. How’s your crush?” Tyler shushes her even though Jamie’s not in the shop - Estrella’s is pretty empty right now, just a couple of college kids working on their laptops and Crazy Gary with his crossword. “Oh, please,” she says. “You practically drool every time he walks in - not that I can blame you. I’m surprised you haven’t asked him out.”

“Isn’t that, like, unprofessional or whatever?” Tyler asks, wrinkling his nose. 

“Well, normally, yeah,” she says, “but I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Pretty sure wants more than your coffee.”

Tyler splutters and Zoe smirks, looking even more smug when the door opens and Jamie walks in. Zoe turns and starts noisily dumping out coffee grounds and refilling the basket to brew a fresh pot of coffee, completely ignoring Jamie.

“Hey,” Tyler says, stepping up to the counter. “What can I get you?”

Jamie looks at him for so long Tyler checks to make sure he hasn’t spilled coffee on himself, even though he’s pretty sure he would’ve noticed that. Jamie blinks a couple times and looks at Tyler’s face. His eyes are so brown and Tyler wants to get lost in them. “Surprise me,” Jamie says, and Tyler is fucking delighted. 

“You won’t be disappointed, I promise,” Tyler says, already pulling a couple of espresso shots and pouring soy milk into a jug to steam. He still can’t make a reindeer look right, but he can totally make a snowman. Once he’s done, he puts the finished latte on the counter in front of Jamie.

“Wow,” he says. “What is that?”

Tyler tries not to frown, because he thinks he’s done a pretty impressive job here. “It’s a snowman, obviously,” he says, hoping he doesn’t sound like an idiot.

“No, I see that,” Jamie says quickly. “I meant -”

“Oh,” Tyler says. “Soy latte. They’re kind of my specialty.” Behind him, Zoe snorts. Tyler glares at her over his shoulder as Jamie tries his coffee.

“Oh man that’s really good,” he says. He frowns down at the cup and then looks up at Tyler. “Oh no, I’ve ruined your snowman.” Tyler valiantly ignores Zoe’s coughing fit that he’s pretty sure is her way of covering up laughter.

“Happens, man,” he says. “Glad you like it. Guess you’ll have to come back for more.”

Jamie smiles softly and Tyler swears it lights up the whole room. “Yeah, I guess I will.”

Zoe appears at his side, armed with a cleaning rag and a slightly scary look in her eyes. “Hey, Tyler, where is your game again?” she asks loudly, leaning close to him while she wipes down the already-spotless steamers. 

“Center Ice Arena,” he says, turning to look at her. “I thought you said you were working Saturday night though?”

She steps on his foot, and he thinks it must be an accident, but he’s not sure. She’s still standing weirdly close to him. “What time are you playing?” she asks.

“Seven,” he says slowly. Zoe looks up at Jamie, who blushes when he realizes she’s noticed him leaning in over the coffee bar. He clears his throat and stands up, hands in his pockets and still blushing.

“Right,” Zoe says. “Well, it’s too bad I can’t go, I’ve been meaning to catch one of your games since you keep talking about how great your team is.”

“I do not,” Tyler says, because he really doesn’t brag. Much. “I mean, we’ve been pretty decent this season but our power play definitely need work. We haven’t scored a power play goal in so many games it’s embarrassing.”

“Passes aren’t connecting?” Jamie asks. Zoe had distracted him, but now Tyler looks up at him, at his big warm eyes and slicked-back hair and knowledge of hockey, and wonders if it’s too soon to propose. 

“Yeah, we’re giving up way too many turnovers,” he says. “And more shorties than we should be.”

“That’s tough,” Jamie says. “Sometimes you just can’t connect. Gotta find that chemistry, right?”

“Yeah,” Tyler says. He leans over the counter, Jamie pressed against it from the other side, and just then there’s a huge crash from the back room. Tyler jumps back. “I gotta -”

“Sure,” Jamie says, holding up his coffee. “I’d better get back to work. See ya, Ty.” He glances over his shoulder as Jamie leaves before pushing his way into the back room - or trying to, anyway. The door hits something when he tries to open it and from inside, somebody says, “Ow, stop it.”

After a second, somebody pulls open the door and Tyler leans in to see Zoe, Shoresy, and a bunch of boxes all over the floor. “Were you guys hooking up in here?” he asks. It kind of seems like the only explanation.

“Ew, no,” they say in unison. Sounds a little suspicious to Tyler, but Zoe looks a bit insulted by the suggestion so he figures they must be telling the truth.

“Okay,” Tyler says. “So then what happened?”

“Shoresy scared the shit out of me is what happened,” Zoe says.

“Zoe was definitely spying on you,” Shoresy says. She throws an unopened package of coffee filters at him. 

“Wait, you were _spying_ on me? And Jamie?” Tyler asks.

“Oh, his name is Jamie?” Zoe says, like she genuinely didn’t know before, which is definitely not true because she’s been working a bunch of times when he’s come in. “Wow, I don’t think you’ve mentioned that.” 

“I totally told you that,” Devin hisses. Tyler rolls his eyes at his coworkers gossiping about him even while he’s standing right there.

“You guys are terrible,” he says. “Why were you spying on me from back here when you could’ve just kept on cleaning the steamers?”

Devin squints at Tyler, then at Zoe, then back at Tyler. “I was trying to give you and your boyfriend some privacy,” she says, standing up and brushing herself off. 

Tyler’s brain is stuck, the phrase “your boyfriend” repeating over and over, sending him into some kind of exhaustion-induced daydream. He imagines Jamie as his boyfriend, winters playing and coaching hockey, summers at a cottage on a lake, mind-blowingly good sex and lots of laughter. They’d probably adopt a couple of rescue dogs, maybe eventually go back to Canada. He’s jolted out of his delusions when Devin grabs his arm to pull himself back to his feet. 

“Whatever,” he says, straightening a couple of the boxes still lying all over the floor. “I’m going on my break.” He pushes past both of them to the tiny break room in the corner. Somebody at some point dragged in an old couch from out front, so maybe he could take a power nap.

“Say hi to Jamie for us,” Zoe calls, just because she wants to annoy him. Tyler just shakes his head at them and collapses on the couch, listening to them bicker about who has to clean up the boxes. Taking a ten minute nap will probably just make him more tired, but he sets an alarm anyway and closes his eyes.

//

Saturday is Tyler’s first day off in way too long. He sleeps in and makes himself a huge breakfast, hanging out in his apartment and just appreciating the fact that he actually has time to do nothing. Eventually he goes to the gym, gets back to his apartment sweaty and happy and just the right side of tired. He thinks he has just enough time to shower, take a nap, and eat dinner - he wants to get to the rink early, maybe get some skating in before they clear the ice and set up for the game. 

He ends up getting to the rink while open skate’s still going on. Rads rolls his eyes and waves him in. “When are you moving in?” he chirps as Tyler stashes his gear in one of the bigger lockers. “Hey, no pucks at open skate!” 

“Yeah, I know,” Tyler says, lacing up his skates. “Hey, can I -”

“No,” Rads says, standing with his arms crossed behind the rental counter. “Tight schedule today, we had a high school game this afternoon so open skate’s running late. Sorry,” he says when he sees Tyler’s frown. 

“Nah, it’s okay,” Tyler says. Being friends with Rads has plenty of benefits for Tyler - as rink manager, he lets Tyler sneak in extra practice sessions every now and then, but sacrificing clean ice for the game isn’t worth the extra ten minutes of practice. He steps out onto the ice and spends the rest of open skate dodging awkward teenage couples on first dates and parents struggling to keep themselves and their kids upright. He doesn’t push himself too hard, just skates in big loops around the rink, trying to see how many times he can lap the couple of kids clinging shakily to the boards. He makes it almost to seven before the buzzer sounds and they’re clearing everybody off the ice. 

In the locker room, a couple of the guys walk in just as Tyler’s pulling off his skates so he can change. “You live here now, Segs?” Rouss chirps.

“Hey, it doesn’t hurt to be dedicated,” he says, grinning as he pushes the hair out of his face.

“Yeah, well, some of us have real jobs and families and shit,” Rouss says, dropping his gear next to Tyler and struggling out of his jacket. 

“I have two jobs,” Tyler protested. His gear bag was a total mess, but he found a clean pair of socks eventually, balled up and buried at the bottom.

“You’re counting coaching a bunch of eight year olds?” Ritche asks.

“Hey, it’s not easy,” Tyler argues.

“That’s not what I meant,” Ritchie mutters. “Wait, you think Spezza would join the team? We could use another forward. Hell, we could just use _players_ , since Sharpy and Johnny moved.”

Tyler shrugs. “I can ask, but he’s got, like, a real job and a family and shit.” Rouss throws a glove at his head for that, and the locker room becomes a mess of chirping and chaos and anticipation. 

From the moment they finally take the ice, Tyler knows it’s gonna be a good game, can feel it in his bones. Their passes connect, tape to tape in a way they’ve been struggling with during practice, and they’re playing at home so the crowd is on their side, family and friends cheering loudly. Tyler scores his first goal of the game ten minutes in, puts the team up four to nothing. He feels less like he’s skating and more like he’s flying when Ritchie crashes into him for a hug.

When the final buzzer sounds, Tyler looks up at the scoreboard one last time and wishes he could take a picture. They did destroy the Jagr Bombs, final score 9-2. Three of those goals were Tyler’s, his first hat trick of the season, and it feels so damn good to win. He can’t stop grinning, hugging everybody and getting a lot of helmet taps. “Nice hatty, Seggy,” Ritchie says.

“Nice goals,” he shoots back, turning to follow him off the ice when he notices the last few people in the stands, one of them surprisingly familiar. Jamie’s standing right on the other side of the boards, his hands in his pockets as he looks out at the ice. “Holy shit,” he breathes.

Ritchie follows Tyler’s gaze. “You know him?” he asks. “He looks like he plays hockey, does he wanna join our team? Can you ask?”

“I - yeah, sure,” Tyler says, skating off without listening to what he’s saying. He stops in front of Jamie, actually eye-to-eye now that Tyler’s in skates. The doors on the other side of the rink clunk open as they roll the zamboni onto the ice. Tyler swears and hops over the boards before he gets run over. His skates clatter on the stands. He’s gonna have to bribe Rads to use the skate sharpener but he really doesn’t care about anything right now but Jamie, who came to see him play. Jamie, who’s standing in front of him and smiling so big Tyler can’t help but smile back. 

“Congrats on the hat trick,” he says. Tyler notices he’s not wearing a hat, wonders if his was one of the few that people threw on the ice after he’d scored his third goal, a slick wraparound that belonged on highlight reels, if they did that kind of a thing for rec leagues.

“You came to my game?” Tyler asks. 

“Yeah,” Jamie says. Tyler wonders how he didn’t see him in the stands this whole time. “You’re really good. Looked like you were having fun out there.”

“Play with me,” he says. Jamie doesn’t say anything, just looks at him, so he barrels on. “You said you missed hockey, so, play with me.”

“Now?” Jamie asks, looking out at the ice. Tyler turns to look behind him, at the zamboni moving in its slow circuit around the rink.

“Well I mean, not right this second,” he says. “I meant you should join the team.”

“Really?” he asks, quiet and hopeful. He looks out at the ice again, perfectly smooth and shiny, a look on his face Tyler knows all too well because it’s exactly how he feels about hockey, too. He’s looking out at the ice with ferocious happiness, like there’s no place he’d rather be, and Tyler’s surprised when he looks back at Tyler and his expression hasn’t changed. “You haven’t even seen me play,” he says. “What if I’m terrible?”

Tyler fucking doubts it. “Are you bad at hockey?” he asks, point-blank.

Jamie blushes, drops his gaze. He hunches his shoulders, like he’s trying to make himself look smaller, which is ridiculous and kind of impossible. “I haven’t practiced in a while,” he says. “Not since I moved here.”

Tyler thinks his face should probably hurt from how much he’s smiling. Jamie hasn’t actually agreed to anything, but he doesn’t think it’ll take all that much to convince him. “That’s okay,” he says. “Our next practice is Thursday, I think. If you’re interested.”

“Tyler,” Jamie says, looking at him with such an intensity and sincerity Tyler swears his heart skips a beat. Then again, he just played a hockey game, is still riding the high of a hat trick and a win and maybe, just maybe, playing hockey with Jamie. “I’m interested.” 

There’s not much room between the first row of the stands and the boards, so they’re standing pretty close. It feels both closer and not close enough since Tyler’s still wearing all of his gear, helmet in one hand and stick in the other. Still, Jamie takes a half-step towards him, close enough to brush against the front of his jersey, and says, “Really interested.” Tyler licks his lips, half experiment and half because he’s kind of flustered by how close they are. Jamie watches him do it, and there’s no way Tyler is reading this wrong, absolutely no reason not to.

His gear hits the floor and he’s shaking his gloves off as Jamie gets one hand in his jersey and pulls him in for a kiss. As soon as his gloves are off, Tyler cups his hands around Jamie’s face and kisses him back. For the first time in his life he hates being in hockey gear because he wants to feel Jamie’s hands all over him right now. Instead, they stumble until Tyler’s back hits the boards, one of Jamie’s hands still fisted in his jersey, right over his heart, and the other pushing up under his gear to stroke his hip, his side. Tyler licks into his mouth and pushes his fingers through Jamie’s hair. He wraps his arm around Jamie’s massive shoulders, fingers digging into muscle through his t-shirt, as Jamie ducks his head to press hot, open-mouthed kisses against his neck.

The arena lights go out, plunging them into sudden darkness. Tyler cares way more about Jamie’s lips on his neck and his hand pressed to his back until he remembers that he still needs to change, should really take a shower, and having all his stuff locked in the locker room is a very real possibility since they’re shutting down the rink for the night.

“Jamie,” he says, tugging at his hair. “Jamie, they’re locking up, I still gotta change.” Jamie finally pulls back enough to look at him and Tyler forgets what he was saying, too distracted by Jamie’s big, bright eyes and his hair sticking up all over the place.

“Oh, shit,” he says, looking up like he just noticed the lights are off. “Did we just get locked in here?”

“I really hope not,” he says, quickly grabbing his helmet and his stick and taking off towards the door as fast as he can walk in skates. Jamie ends up beating him to the door. He puts his shoulder into it, shoving it open so hard they both go stumbling through into the hallway.

“It’s fine, Tyler.” Rads is leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. “It’s not like I wanted to go home or anything, had nothing better to do but wait for you.”

“Thanks for not locking us in, Raddy,” Tyler says, already half-running to the locker room. He changes in record time, shoving all his gear haphazardly into his bag and hoping he remembers to like, do laundry before practice. He sticks his head under the sink so he can at least try to fix his hair, but he gives up after a few seconds and yanks a shirt over his head. He leaves the locker room in record time, gear bag slung over one shoulder and his stick leaning against the other.

Jamie’s sitting on one of the benches next to the rental counter, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He stands up as soon as he sees Tyler, taking his gear bag from him like it weighs nothing. “You didn’t have to wait for me,” Tyler says. Jamie doesn’t say anything, just gives him a funny look. He has no idea what Jamie’s looking for here, if he just wants a hookup or if he’s interested in something more serious. Tyler is just happy to see where this goes. He waves at Rads as they leave. Rads actually winks at him as he locks the doors behind them - so he definitely saw them making out rinkside, then.

“Do you wanna get a drink or something?” Jamie asks. Tyler looks over at him and just _wants_. He wants to get a couple drinks with Jamie, wants to take him home and take him apart, wants to get breakfast with him the next morning.

“That sounds great,” Tyler says, “but I’m opening tomorrow, gotta be there at like five.” Jamie makes a face. “Yeah, exactly. Plus I gotta take a shower, I reek.” 

Jamie shrugs. “It’s part of hockey,” he says, following Tyler across the parking lot to his car.

Tyler looks up at him, smirking. “Man, you must really love hockey if you actually miss gross hockey player smell.” Jamie laughs, ducking his head to try and hide his blush. It doesn’t work at all, and Tyler would be happy if he could see Jamie blush like that every day for the rest of forever. 

He unlocks his car and goes to take his gear from Jamie, but he twists away from him, wraps his arm around Tyler’s waist and pulls him in for a kiss. Tyler isn’t expecting it, stumbling forward and catching himself with both hands on Jamie’s chest. He feels Jamie’s smile against his lips and he bites Jamie’s bottom lip, leans closer when he groans. Jamie’s hand slides down his back to his ass. Tyler’s hands are still trapped between them, but he manages to drag them down Jamie’s body and tugs on his belt.

“Tyler,” Jamie says. He doesn’t know if it’s a warning or encouragement. Jamie immediately kisses him again, presses his tongue to his lips as Tyler’s hands drift lower still, making Jamie groan again. He can’t think of anything beyond the feeling of Jamie’s lips on his, heart pounding and head spinning from his kisses. “Tyler,” Jamie says again. “Ty, we’re in a parking lot.” 

Tyler finally pulls back, bumping into his car right behind him. “Yeah,” Tyler says. Jamie’s lips are red and slick, his shirt collar’s stretched out of place, and Tyler can’t think of a single reason not to just take Jamie home and call in sick for the whole week. 

Jamie hands him his gear bag. “Good night, Tyler,” he says. Before he can walk away, Tyler kisses him again, soft and sweet. 

//

The next day, Tyler is stretched out on the couch on his break, scrolling through Instagram when he hears Zoe burst out laughing. He figures Shoresy’s gone and done something dumb, or maybe she’s watching Vine compilations under the counter again. After the morning rush, Sundays are usually pretty slow. 

“Hey!” Zoe leans around the shelves to talk to him. “Somebody brought a present for you.”

“What?” he asks. Maybe she and Shoresy have spent the past ten minutes coming up with some elaborate prank. “Is this a joke?”

She rolls her eyes. “Just come out here.” 

“My break isn’t over for -”

“I don’t care.” She cuts him off. “Seriously, come on.” Tyler gets up slowly, stretches, puts his phone in his pocket and grabs his apron before following Zoe back out to the shop. When he sees why she dragged him away from the last three minutes of his break, he drops his apron on the floor.

“Hey,” Jamie says. He’s wearing a soft-looking sweater, a little green shiny bow stuck on the front. He can faintly hear Michael Bublé singing _I don’t want a lot for Christmas, this is all I’m asking for_ , but he’s more focused on Jamie, standing in front of him with his hands in his pockets and a bow on his chest.

“What are you doing here?” Tyler asks. It’s a stupid question - why does anybody go to a coffee shop, obviously to get coffee, maybe to get some work done. 

“Uh,” Jamie says, looking over his shoulder at where Devin and Zoe are probably posting this entire thing on snapchat. Tyler looks back at them just in time to catch Devin shoving his phone back in his pocket, Zoe grabbing his arm and dragging him to the back room. He turns back to Jamie and he can’t help but stare at the bow again. Jamie notices him looking and says, “The blonde girl made me wear it.” He grins. “She says you wouldn’t notice I was flirting with you otherwise.”

“Oh my god,” Tyler mutters. “I’m sorry I work with the most ridiculous people ever. And for the record, I totally noticed you flirting with me but I was trying to be professional.” 

“No, yeah, that’s good,” Jamie says. From the back room, somebody clears their throat loudly, coughing, and then Devin hisses, “ _What are you doing_ , _stop that_ ,” loud enough for both of them to hear. Tyler just barely restrains the urge to bury his face in his hands.

“What can I get you?” he asks, already reaching for a coffee cup.

“A date,” Jamie says. Tyler knocks over the entire stack of medium cups. “I mean…” He takes a step closer, smiling tentatively. “Do you wanna get dinner with me tonight?”

Tyler grins at him. “Yeah, that sounds great.” The coffee cups are scattered and rolling around on the floor but he doesn’t care at all, he just leans over the counter and grabs Jamie’s sweater, hands on either side of the bow. Jamie goes easily, still smiling, and Tyler goes a little cross-eyed looking at him. “Best Christmas present ever,” he mutters right before Jamie kisses him. 

Shoresy and Zoe holler from the back room; one of the ladies sitting at a table by the windows wolf-whistles. The counter digs into his hips uncomfortably, and he still has two hours left in his shift at Estrella’s, but he’s lost to the feeling of pressing short, sweet kisses to Jamie’s lips. It’s hands-down the best Christmas present he’s ever gotten.

/ _one month later_ /

“Medium soy latte for your boyfriend.” Devin shoves a to-go cup right at Tyler’s chest, which is annoying and almost definitely a violation of the health and safety code. He’s also drawn a dick on it instead of writing a name, so Tyler tosses the cup in the trash and grabs a clean one, focusing on starting Jamie’s order.

“I thought we were getting lunch,” he says. Once he starts the espresso machine, he looks up at Jamie, who’s smiling at him with a bright intensity that still surprises him. 

“Yeah, we are,” Jamie says. “I just wanted a coffee.” Tyler raises his eyebrows and smirks at him until Jamie shrugs and says, “Okay, I wanted to see you, why is that so weird?”

“I like hearing you say it,” he says, half-mumbled to the espresso machine. He finishes Jamie’s coffee and snaps a lid over the heart he drew with the foam. He puts the drink on the other side of the counter, but Jamie doesn’t move to pick it up.

“Yeah, well I like you,” he says. 

Tyler, halfway through taking off his apron, smiles. He can feel a blush spreading across his face and he feels like a kid again, but he says, “I like you, too.”

“Oh my god, please just leave,” Shoresy says. “Right now.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay -” Tyler starts to ask, but Devin yanks his apron over his head and pushes it into his hands. 

“I’ll be fine, seriously just go make goo-goo eyes somewhere else.” He pushes Tyler towards the back room so he can hang up his apron. When he steps out from behind the counter, Jamie’s drinking his coffee and talking to Devin about the Stars’ playoff chances. “I’ll see you in one hour,” Devin calls threateningly as they leave, which is a little hilarious. Tyler’s worked there longer than Devin has, though he would never ditch anybody at work to spend time with Jamie. Intentionally, anyway.

Out on the street, the backs of their hands brush every few steps as they walk until Tyler slips his hand into Jamie’s. His grin is blinding. Tyler doesn’t know where they’re going, just walks along with Jamie. “This is where I work,” he says, nodding at an office building as they walk past. A familiar flash of green catches his eye and he stops, lets his arm stretch ahead of him as Jamie keeps walking.

“Jamie,” Tyler says, frowning at the building’s lobby. “Is there a Starbucks in your office?” Tucked into a corner of the lobby is a Starbucks, crowded with people in suits talking on phones and having meetings. 

“Uh,” Jamie says, looking out at the street. “Yeah? It’s always really busy and I was out for a walk one day and I found Estrella’s and I met you and -” He cuts himself off, biting his lip and blushing. 

“Couldn’t resist my charm, huh?” he asks, catching up to Jamie and putting his arm around his shoulders. Jamie links his fingers through Tyler’s, where his hand rests over his shoulder.

“Pretty much,” he says. They keep walking. It’s cool but not too bad - winters in Dallas are nothing like Toronto, no sign of snow at all. 

“Starbucks coffee is terrible, anyway,” Tyler says. He doesn’t even drink coffee that often - kind of hates it, after working in a coffee shop for so long. He looks over at Jamie, who’s being weirdly quiet.

“I don’t even like coffee that much,” he says. “I mean, I need the caffeine sometimes, but…” 

“Jamie, you giant sap,” Tyler says. He stops again in the middle of the sidewalk, pulls his arm back to his side. “You were really just coming to see me?”

“Walking is good exercise, I can’t just stay in the building all day, it drives me crazy,” Jamie mumbles. “And yeah, fine, I liked seeing your face or whatever.” There are a dozen stupid things Tyler could say in response, but instead he just wraps his arms around Jamie and kisses him. They might not make it to the restaurant for lunch, but he doesn’t mind, not with the way Jamie is holding him. He doesn’t care how cold it gets now that Jamie’s here to keep him warm.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://segwins.tumblr.com)


End file.
